March1, 2007

Washington,
DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton
(D-MO) released the following statement after today’s
Full Committee hearing to receive testimony from the Secretary
of the Navy, the Honorable Donald C. Winter, the Chief of Naval
Operations, Admiral Michael G. Mullen, and the Commandant of
the U.S. Marine Corps, General James T. Conaway, on the Fiscal
Year 2008 budget request for the United States Navy and Marine
Corps:

“My personal experience and my study of history
underscore for me the importance of a strong and vibrant
Navy. Because we need a Navy that is able to help
achieve our range of national security goals, I am very
concerned about the shrinking size of our ship force
structure. This month, the Navy will fall to a low of
274 ships. For members such as myself, who not too
long ago participated in a build-up to almost 600 ships,
274 is a shocking number. Frankly, I am not persuaded
it is the right number.

“I am encouraged that
in 2008 the Navy will commission 7 more ships than it
decommissions and will budget for 7 more new ships in 2008,
but we need to understand what the plan is to accelerate
the effort to increase the size of our Navy and to ensure
the effort then stays on schedule.

“I am pleased that the
2008 budget request includes an increase in the size of the
Marine Corps. I have been calling for an increase in
the size of our ground forces for a number of years and I
believe this increase is the right response to the security
challenges currently facing this nation.

“On the other hand, I
remain concerned about the impact of current operations,
particularly the troop increase in
Iraq, on Marine Corps readiness. The House Armed
Services Committee remains deeply committed to meeting the
needs of our Marines deployed to combat, and we are
especially interested in the Marine Corps’ needs for
reset of equipment. In a bipartisan effort, this
committee added almost $6 billion to last year’s
budget for Marine Corps equipment reset. We look
forward to working together to ensure that Marine Corps
reset needs are met for the coming year.”